httperrors in web.config

Question

I am trying to use simple html page when 503 service unavilable error comes.

I am using below in web.config's system.webservers

<httpErrors errorMode="Custom">
  <remove statuscode="503" substatuscode="-1">
  <error statuscode="503" responseMode="File" path="Views/Shared/IISError.htm">
</httpErrors>

This is nt working. I am still getting IIS default page when I stop my application.

I am using mvc3, razor application.

Answer 1

It took me a while to figure this out... but I think this might help you:

First of all to configure errors in IIS 7 you need to do it using the following section:

  <system.webServer>
    <httpErrors existingResponse="Replace" defaultResponseMode="Redirect" errorMode="Custom">
      <remove statusCode="503"/>
      <error statusCode="503" responseMode="Redirect" path="Views/Shared/IISError.htm"/>          
    </httpErrors>
  </system.webServer>

This configuration works, however you might receive an error indicating that you cannot override the httpErrors section, if that's the case, follow the next steps:

1. Open the C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config

2. Change:

   <section name="httpErrors" overrideModeDefault="Deny" />
   

   To:

   <section name="httpErrors" overrideModeDefault="Allow" />
   

Answer 2

The question is, are you using VisualStudio Development Server or IIS7 Express ?

if you are using Cassini (VSDS) then you should try with

<customErrors mode="On" >
  <error statusCode="503" redirect="/Views/Shared/Error.htm"/>
</customErrors>

because httpErrors is a new structure that is handled only by IIS7. You can find some more info on : What is the difference between customErrors and httpErrors? and http://www.iis.net/ConfigReference/system.webServer/httpErrors